2010-09-11 -- FREE

Well, OK, sorta free.  My total came to $1.02, but the SoBe Buy-One-Get-One Promotion failed to kick in and I was charged for both SoBe.  I had paid for one with a coupon, and the other didn't auto-deduct.  The cashier simply refunded the $1.59, so I paid $1.02 and CVS then handed me $1.59 in cash.

I began with 5.99ECB on Card1.

Regular Prices:
4.49 Kelloggs Raisin Bran
4.49 Kelloggs Raisin Bran
4.49 Kelloggs Raisin Bran
4.49 Kelloggs Raisin Bran
3.49 SunMaid Raisins
1.59 SoBe
1.59 SoBe
0.10 CA CRV
1.49 Stride Shift
1.00 Emerald Nuts
0.89 Three Musketeers

28.11 TOTAL Regular Prices

Sale Prices:
1.77 Kelloggs Raisin Bran
1.77 Kelloggs Raisin Bran
1.77 Kelloggs Raisin Bran
1.77 Kelloggs Raisin Bran
2.50 SunMaid Raisins
1.59 SoBe
1.59 SoBe
0.10 CA CRV
0.99 Stride Shift
1.00 Emerald Nuts
0.50 Three Musketeers

15.35 TOTAL Sale Prices

Coupons and Discounts Applied:
3.00 STORE Coupon "$3 Off $10+ Grocery Purchase"
0.75 STORE Coupon "75 Cents off Three Musketeer"
1.59 MANUFACTURER Coupon "Buy 1 SoBe, Get 1 Free"
1.00 MANUFACTURER Coupon "Emerald Nuts"
1.00 MANUFACTURER Coupon "Two Raisin Bran"
1.00 MANUFACTURER Coupon "Two Raisin Bran"
4.00 ExtraBuck
1.99 ExtraBuck

14.33 TOTAL Coupons and Discounts

As noted above, my balance came to $1.02. I paid and was somewhat perplexed as I had not intended on spending all my ECB. Once I looked at the receipt, I saw that the SoBe had not "zero-ed out".  It seems that I had a grabbed a SoBe Tea that was not part of the promotion.

The cashier refunded me $1.64 in cash (including CRV), then we purchased a "free" SoBe at a cost of $0.00+CRV.  Yes, I came out $0.57 ahead, but my ECB total plummeted from 5.99ECB to 0.99ECB, which I gained from the Stride Shift gum.

Shockingly, the ECB total for Card1 is now a measly 0.99ECB.  Even with the nifty three-day-only "$5 Off $15" coupon, as well as a few other card-specific coupons, it will be a challenge to raise my ECB total on this long-time card without having to spend some real, actual cash.  EEEK.

On the plus side, since this location was entirely out of SoBe, I did get a nice RAINCHECK that will come in handy once they re-stock the SoBe, hopefully before the 09-30-2010 expiration of the fantastic "BOGO" coupon game on sobe.com.